AN ABORIGINAL TOURNAMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 58

AN ABORIGINAL TOURNAMENT

By Jessib Macxat. It is a testimony to the genius of the Wizard of the North that when we speak of a tournament, as Caucasian chivalry interprets the word, we almost always—at least, in thought—add the reminiscent phrase, " the gentle and joyous passage-of-arms at Ashby-de-la-Zouche." What would Walter Scott, have thought of a black man's tournament in the then unnamed wilds of Queensland —a game probably as ancient as the warlike diversions of Ivanhoe's time in Norman England? One similarity at least would strike the retrospecting novelist. To the modern sense both gatherings—the dead and gone knights at Ashby-de-la-Zouche and the living black fellows of the Tully River—would appeaor " joyous" only in streaks, and " gentle " in no manner whatever. The name of Dr Roth, Protector of the Australian Aborigines, is known far and wide, and it is conceded that no one surpasses this ex-Don of Oxford in knowledge of the customs of those unattractive children of Nature, the black fellows of Australia; hence peculiar interest attaches to the presidential address delivered by Dr Roth at the ninth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science at Hobai-t in 1902, where he took for his theme the " Games, Sports, and Amusements of the North Queensland Aboriginals." As it is in these far regions that the finest specimens of the native race are said to be found, we may assume that Dr Roth's observations give the most authoritative view of the native intelligence at its best, untouched by European influence. Dr Roth's study of native games "and amusements is exhaustive, dealing very largely with the play of Queensland children, but also entering into the lighter side of tribal life as lived by their elders. The article, as reported in the compiled Transactions of the association for that year, is profusely illustrated by diagrams. Among the various forms of amusement that formed the blackfellow's picture theatre, sports programme, and concert hall most space is devoted to that which in all-savage or semi-savage countries holds pride of place—the mimicry of war. Now the blackfellow's memory was always a treacherous matter for anything but vengeance, but certainly its sense of fairly recent injury was fully as acute as most, and in marking out the lists for his primitive tournament the tribesmen were not unmindful of scores which it had not been practicable to wipe out on the instant, but which, often by intertribal consent, could be dealt with at leisure and with zest before the assembled "beauty and chivalry" of the bush' or the desert during these festive seasons. It was among the scrub regions of the Cardwell and Tully River that these meetings most merited the pretentious title "tournament." The MaTlanpara blacks gave it the special name of " prun," and the prun-ground was called the " puya." The puya was moved every two or three months, and consisted of a large circular space. The games were regularly held about once a fortnight. Curiously enough, in olden time 3 these meetings always took place either on the seventh or thirteenth day from the last, the Queensland black being intelligent enough, unlike his western brethren, to count up to that number; but why these particular dates were chosen not the wisest blackfellow could tell. In latter days the fourteenth was often taken _ (the white man's Sunday), as so many of the combatants worked for the squatter on week days. It is etiquette that the tribe on "whose ground the prun is held for the time should arrive there first, early in. the morning. Some days previously a very everyday kind of "fiery cross message has been sent round to adjacent camps to remind them of the date. The owners of the soil adorn themselves fittingly, appearing in a kind of abbreviated suit of cockatoo feathers, with a waving crest or crown of the same. The more distant champions dress before they reat;h the ground; these are-called the ulmba, and, of course, are the picked men of the camps. The less important tribesmen, who may be regarded either as backers or squires, are much less ornamented, and the women are not specially adorned at all, though four of them have the honour to appear as weapon-bearers to the ulmba. Each tribe in turn sends its

quota, which follows exactly the .same procedure as the picked bands before and behind them, in starting the day's events. Each band advances in a body, and at a rush, led by two or three heroes of renown (presumably), who point the way with levelled spears. They go half-round the circle, then come to a halt equally abrupt, and stand, a mass - of black bodies, cockatoo, feathers, waving shields, and bristling spears and boomerangs. With one defiant shout, each company then retires to the spot from which it started, and the champions sit down. Nothing more happens till mid-afternoon, when the ground-lords again take the initiative, and endeavour to stir up fight with one particular band over the way. If there is a genuine grievance between the two parties, the object is scon and naturally achieved. If the occasion is simply a trial of skill, the yeast of passion is made to work by more laborious efforts. A rough-and-ready challenge is letting fly a 6pear or bomerang into the chosen clump of savage chivalry. Another and more artistic method is to let some bitter-mouthed Thersites of the tribe in possession htffl denunciations, either at some hostile champion or at his' whole clan. Sometimes, again, a real injury forms the basis of these impassioned remarks; often they are mere Rabelaisian ironies, covering the whole family and ancestry of the indicted man or sect. A third method is for all the challengers to roar imprecations, gibes, and jeers at the tribe they wish to rouse. Dr Roth infers that the wildest flight of Billingsgate is a Sunday school oration compared with the amenities exchanged on these occasions. The slandered and beridiculed clan endures the hail of invective for a time, deputing some of their own orators to return in kind the compliments so freely tendered by their adversaries. If the challenged are over long a dastardly but always effective expedient Is to. slip round and hurl a boomerang into the midst of the women and children belonging to the phlegmatic warriors. The whole show, it may be said, is eagerly watched by the women and young folk, who are supposed to be protected by the rules of* the tourney. Sometimes the combat is general; sometimes two doughty opponents elect to have a duel, and if there is any private grudge deemed to be a purely family and not a tribal matter the others may refuse to take sides. The subsequent, proceedings may be deemed the savage equivalent of a knightly passage-at-arms, and it is probable that fatal or even serious injuries are no more frequent than those in the "civilised" encounters of the Middle Ages. At least the first spears were aimed below the knee, but boomerangs and clubs were soon used freely, and the sight was one that did honour to aboriginal litheness and dexterity in warding off and avoiding these assaults. If a death occurs it has usually been determined beforehand. Minor wounds are fairly common, and it is to be confessed that the Amazons of the tribes take an active part in the lingual warfare that preludes the strife, and after they have egged on their own relatives they are not averse to engaging with women from the hostile camps.. A fearful hurly-burly reigns once the prun is fairly started; but rules of fair play are generally observed, and a weaker faction will often be helped, even by enemies, if it seems unduly set .upon. The fight goes on, with short intervals of rest, till dark, when, like Odin's heroes, they lay aside their war-gear and join in friendly fellowship for the evening. Just as the sun rises, another short bout of fighting ushers in the day, whereupon the prun is ended, and all go home. Sxich is the course of an aboriginal tournament as viewed by one of' the few white men privileged to behold one. No prize is gifted by any Queen of Love and Beauty, though many a dark Gyneth has deserved the retributive spell of an offended Merlin. But otherwise who can doubt that Front-de-Beouf and JackyJacky are "brothers under their skins"?